Unicorns and Unsaid Things
by Story Please
Summary: Hermione is on her way to see Hagrid when she finds herself faced with a Severus-shaped shadow. Will her feelings for him grow after an afternoon helping with the unicorns, or will it be simply another exercise in frustration?


Author's Note: My lovely Chaser 2, Tee, requested a story about Hagrid trying to be a matchmaker for Severus and Hermione, and I thought it was an adorable idea. Apologies in advance for my Hagrid-ese.

* * *

Unicorns and Unsaid Things

"Ugh!" Hermione groaned as she ground to a halt, a stitch burning in her side. She really needed to stop skipping her stretches and daily exercise, but she'd been out of practice for awhile, and even though summer days at Hogwarts had only just begun and she had no more excuses to stop her, she still preferred to spend her free time reading, researching, and snacking a bit more than she ought to.

It was her third year teaching Transfiguration as Head of Gryffindor House, and Hermione had come to love the summers. Though she technically lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, she preferred her quarters at the foot of Gryffindor Tower, as they'd become more of a home to her than anything.

Minerva had taken on a lot of new projects once she'd been voted unanimously to assume the mantled of Headmistress, and Hermione helped however she could as Deputy, but she knew that it had been a good move when Minerva had finally given up Transfiguration. The castle had never been so vibrant with plenty of students from abroad as well as an entire new wing of classrooms and professors teaching new and exciting classes. There was a revitalized school club culture, as well. Though times had never been boring at Hogwarts in Hermione's time, she had to admit that Minerva's stewardship of the school was one that had made Hogwarts the talk of the international wizarding school circle. Representatives from Ilvermorny and Beauxbatons had come to look at their innovative Magiquatics classroom, which taught advanced water-based magic and maneuvers to upperclassmen. Many of the old, drab subjects had been reevaluated and revamped using updated materials and cutting-edge magic theory. Though it still had fewer classes teaching advanced magic within the realm of Dark Arts, Hogwarts had become the premier place to send magical children in Europe for an excellent and well-rounded education.

At Hermione's urging, there were even classes in writing and mathematics as well, for the average wizard or witch would need them as much as any Muggle, as well as a financial planning and money handling class taught by a goblin from Gringotts.

But now, during the summer, it was mainly time to relax, fix up the dorms and her classroom, and do any little repairs or improvements around the castle that needed to be done.

"And where might you be going in such a hurry?" A soft voice purred from behind her as she took deep breaths and cursed her lack of fitness.

"Well, if you must know, Hagrid sent me a patronus. He needs help with something at his hut. To be honest, his voice was garbled, so I don't know exactly what," Hermione said, turning back to see Severus Snape's smug expression as he looked down at her. She wasn't sure if he was actually smug or if this was simply his favorite expression when he caught her in an embarrassing position.

That seemed to be happening fairly often, lately.

"I see, well then, I had better accompany you before you hurt yourself," Severus drawled. "With the way things are going, you might need a Potions master."

"Shoo, ghost!" Hermione said, though she knew quite well that despite some of her darker wishes, Severus was not a ghost in any way, shape, or form.

She was still irritated that he had the gall to pretend to be dead for nearly a decade and then just show up at Hogwarts one morning as casually as though he'd only popped out for a quart of milk. She'd been waiting for stragglers from Hogsmeade at the gate and had nearly fainted dead away when she'd seen him billowing towards her in the dying light of the day. As it was, she'd ended up tripping backwards and twisting her ankle and stammered embarrassingly when he'd loomed above her looking down his nose at the embarrassing scene she'd made. Without a word, he'd pulled her back up to standing, threw her arm around the back of his neck, and let her lean on him all the way back to the castle, which had almost been worse because being close to him in the twilight, feeling the rise and fall of his chest against her side had awakened a number of thoughts in her head that she had never once entertained in her entire life.

Of course, she'd denied it at the time. It had taken her weeks to admit to the reason why her face had burned hot that chilly evening.

The thing was, once he opened his mouth and fixed her with that oh-so-cool gaze that practically screamed "I'm superior to you in every way and you know it," Hermione found it rather annoying, actually. Sure, he'd been terrifying when she was three feet tall, and she'd always had a thing for proving people wrong the more they tried to tell her she couldn't do something, but now she was a fellow professor comfortable in her place in her career. These games of one-upping each other were simply childish, and she refused to let herself sink to his level.

...Well, at least, that's what she always told herself, before…

"Well, maybe someone cast a silent Side-Splitting Jinx!" she blustered, pulling her hair back from her face.

"Oh? And here I was, thinking that you have always been perfectly able to get yourself into all manner of trouble, Hermione," Severus replied, giving her the eyebrow arch that she hated.

Merlin, she hated that eyebrow arch. Hated how it curved in such a se—

"NO!" she shouted, shaking her head to clear her head.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, "After all, I would never invade your thoughts with my Legilimency. Merlin knows that your face is pathetically easy to read."

"Going to Hagrid's. Now. Alone. Goodbye, Severus." Hermione turned and marched off, the stitch in her side long forgotten.

She had to bite her lip to keep herself from turning around to see if he was watching her go.

* * *

"'Ermione! There yeh are!" Hagrid boomed happily as Hermione jogged into view of the front door to his hut. "I were gettin' worried 'bout you, I was!"

"Sorry, Hagrid," Hermione gasped, bending over to catch her breath a bit, "I got a stitch in my side, and, well—"

"She was apparently in such a hurry that she decided to leave me behind," Severus said from behind her.

'Don't turn around, don't turn around, don't turn around,' Hermione chanted in her head.

She turned around.

'There's that damned eyebrow again!' she thought viciously.

Instead of saying anything, she turned back towards Hagrid and sniffed loudly. "I believe that Hagrid and I should have things in order, Severus," she said flippantly.

"Actually," Hagrid said, looking a little bashful, "I asked fer both of you ter help me out."

Severus made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a small snicker. She gritted her teeth and pretended not to notice it, bounding forward to get closer to Hagrid. "So," she said as brightly as possible, "what can I do to help, Hagrid?"

"This way, you two," Hagrid said, leading them off towards the Forbidden Forest. "Yeh'll have ter see it."

* * *

Both Severus and Hermione stared in shock as Hagrid pointed at the source of the work.

"You can't be serious," Severus said snidely.

"Yer both perfect fer the job!" Hagrid said happily.

"Shouldn't we get a professional?" Hermione asked, her cheeks a bright pink.

"I checked. You two are the only ones who tested positive," Hagrid said with a shrug. "I'll be back this evening ter see how yeh two are farin', then."

Hermione thought back to the individual phials everyone on staff had been asked to spit in. "That's what it was for? You could have just asked!"

"The headmistress wanted ter be sure," Hagrid said, waving as he turned. "I gotta reform the wards now or the little dears'll escape. I just love me new wand!"

With that, he sealed the gate behind them with his nearly branch-sized wand.

"I'll be back before supper!" Hagrid boomed from the other side.

"So," Severus said, as soon as Hagrid's footsteps faded away. "I guess it's just you and me."

"And an entire herd of unicorns," Hermione said briskly. "I'm not sure what is more embarrassing. Being locked in here with you to snipe at me or being outed as a miserable virgin in my early thirties."

"There, there," Severus said, "You don't have to be miserable just because you've never done one thing, considering all of the other accomplishments you've made. In fact, I quite think you'd be far more miserable if you'd given your first time to that miserable orangutan of a Weasley boy."

Hermione snickered at that. Ron had pawed at her a bit, but not much more. She'd sensibly broken up with him to attend Muggle university and then took an apprenticeship in Transfiguration. In less than a year, he'd found someone else to start a family with. There just hadn't been time for much more than a few kisses and coffee dates with a few lackluster men (and one woman who'd she'd surprised herself in falling for both fast and hard, but then Daisy had moved to Albania and that had been that). Now that Hermione was back at Hogwarts, she didn't have much time for dating, and didn't see much reason to make the time during the breaks or summers.

Or, so she would say whenever Harry or Luna or Neville or Ginny would ask.

The truth was far less glamorous, though, and she hated herself for lying.

There was someone, actually, who had lately been in her thoughts more and more than ever, but she knew it would never work beyond a few fantasies here and there (and that one dream where he'd done something unspeakably naughty that had awoken her from a dead sleep panting with pleasure, but there was no way in hell she was going to share that with anyone, much less the man in question).

She glanced over at Severus, hoping he hadn't been staring at her while she reminisced about her pathetic past, but she needn't have worried. He was kneeling down to pet one of the baby unicorns gently on the neck. The golden creature whinnied and tossed its head a little, prancing around and coming back for more pets.

"I am not going to make fun of you for that particular reason, Hermione," he said, finally. "For obvious reasons, I should think. I am many things, but a hypocrite is not one of them."

Hermione wanted to argue, but she decided against it. Severus was oddly fair about most things, after all, even though he could be infuriating.

"But aren't you a war hero?" she asked, joining him. The baby unicorn nuzzled against her, and soon she found herself surrounded by little gold fillies and colts.

"They like you," Severus said, one side of his lips raising in a soft-looking smirk. "And yes, I am a war hero, apparently. Which is apparently the absolute worst thing one can be when looking to connect with people who don't get instantly star-struck upon meeting me."

"Not even a one-night-stand?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Do you have any idea how many women have tried charming themselves to look like Lily and request for me to call them by her name in bed right in the middle of sharing an appetizer? It's...it's…." His hand shook as he tried to hold back his fury. "It's DISGUSTING is what it is! I could never sleep with a woman like that. Clingy unicorns are vastly preferable."

"To be fair, they don't know how annoying you really are," Hermione said, grinning when Severus let out a bark of laughter at that. "I mean, at least they're not dressing up as Voldemort."

"You would be surprised," Severus replied ruefully. "And she seemed like such a nice bird before she took off her wig and put in the contact lenses. At least she had the decency to pick up the check."

Hermione had to hold back a peal of laughter at that particular mental image. Severus merely shrugged and went back to the business of petting baby unicorns.

"Here," Hermione said, grabbing one of the brushes hanging on the wall, "This might make it a bit easier."

Severus took it and nodded his thanks. "They tend to freely give of their hair to those of us who are...wholly inexperienced in carnal knowledge."

"Well, don't we make quite the pair?" she said flippantly, a flustered feeling growing louder in her head. "Well, it's no secret that I've always prefered the mind over the body," Hermione continued, looking down at her soft, somewhat doughy frame. Years of sitting in libraries hadn't exactly done her figure many favors.

"What luck," Severus said suddenly, and Hermione bit her lip, her mind racing with the thought of what his words might mean.

"There," he said, pulling a hair from the brush with a look of concentration on his face. "Looks like I got the first one of the day."

Hermione blushed, eminently glad that his focus was elsewhere, for she'd initially misconstrued his words.

"Here," she said, pulling a specimen box from her robes. "Hagrid had me grab it earlier today when I was in Hogsmeade. I guess I know what's supposed to go inside now." She carefully took it from him, trying not to flinch when his fingers brushed against hers.

"Indeed," he said, going back brushing the baby unicorn in a decidedly focused manner.

Something bumped into her bottom, and Hermione turned, annoyed, to find that she'd been headbutted by another one of the unicorn colts. The adults, meanwhile, stood a ways off pointedly ignoring them even though their ears were pricked in the direction of their babies. She was rather glad that their horns did not grow in until they were much older. She silently summoned another brush and giggled as one of the more rambunctious colts tried to catch it in his teeth. "Come now," she chided him, "your mane is a mess. Let's make you nice and handsome, now."

He allowed her to run her fingers down his back and whinnied softly as she began to run the brush through his mane. She got three strands of hair by the time she was done.

"Show off," Severus said with a smirk. He'd only gotten two total and was already on his second unicorn.

Hermione blushed furiously and found herself tripping over nothing yet again. She landed on her bottom on the damp grass and swore as she banged her tail bone. "Shite," she groaned.

"Need some help?" He was looming over her again, his hand extended.

Hermione begrudgingly took his hand, the image of him looming over her only to pull her into a kiss as she stood in that damned racy dream flashing through her mind. She let go of his hand quickly as soon as she was on her feet. "Thanks."

"You know, there's no need to sound like I just killed your cat," Severus replied with a scowl.

Hermione was not about to explain where her sudden bitterness had come from— the thought of telling him the truth and seeing his shocked, horrified expression made her swallow thickly to avoid tearing up.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Hermione said glumly trying to calm her nerves by regurgitating useless facts, "Hair from baby unicorns is only used in the shortest unicorn hair core wands and a few rarely-brewed potions."

Severus pursed his lips and looked almost as though he was about to say something, then shook his head slightly and turned back to finish his work on the remaining juvenile unicorns without a word.

* * *

Her work with the last colt complete, Hermione walked carefully towards the adult unicorns, only for them to move further from her. It wasn't as though they were skittish or afraid, merely moving away from her at an equal distance if she tried moving towards them.

"There are a few reasons why they won't let us get near to them," Severus said from behind her, and Hermione yelped sharply in surprise, for she hadn't heard him approaching. "Do you still have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them memorized, or shall I provide some theories?"

Hermione frowned. "Any First Year knows that young unicorns will come to most people as long as they are relatively pure of heart. Adults, however, do not like to get close to those whose virginity is not preserved, though it is not known at this time why this is."

"And?" She nearly jumped as his words tickled her ear. She could imagine him bending forward behind her, the heat from his breath warming her cheek, but she dared not glance back to see if she was right.

Hermione could feel his warmth radiating against her back even though he was still not quite touching any part of her body. When she glanced back up at where the adult unicorns had been standing before, she realized that all but one had disappeared back inside of the stables. The lone remaining adult was a huge stallion, who eyed the juveniles watchfully as they frolicked around his cloven hooves. As Hermione continued to watch, he began to nudge them with his head to follow the others into the stables. She had the impression of a family taking cover in the calm before a storm.

"And…" She paused, feeling quite sure that her face was about to catch fire at any moment, "...and...they can sense intention."

"What. Are. Your. Intentions, Hermione?" His voice was a dangerous whisper.

She turned slowly, her breath hitching.

"You tell me," she whispered back, meeting his eyes.

"Are you sure?" He was almost unnervingly still.

'Please, Severus,' she thought as hard as she could at him, her mind pushing against hiswith the force of her request

"As you wish." He slipped a slightly quivering hand and gently cupped her chin. The slight scent of mint and lemongrass filled her nose and she wondered at the warmth of his touch. And then, as she felt his ming brush hers, his pupils blew wide and she felt as though she were falling into them.

She watched him walk, nervous and twisting his wand in his hands, back to Hogwarts for the first time in years. She watched his eyes widen with surprise as he saw her standing at the gate.

Merlin's pants, when did Granger become a woman?

She watched herself fall and how he'd hoisted her arm over his shoulder and helped her to the castle. She also noticed just how pink his cheeks were as he held her against him to steady her.

Her scent...so familiar...

He was standing over a vat of Amortentia, sighing with pleasure. He opened his eyes and scowled at the reflection of his face in the liquid below.

Why her? Why now?

She watched a pattern emerge in his memories. He'd find places where he could "happen" to run into her, and they would talk until one of his barbed comments struck too close to home and Hermione either laughed ruefully or scolded him and left him cursing himself silently for his fool of a tongue.

He sat at the Head Table, fidgeting silently with a dinner roll as she chatted amiably with him.

Idiot. She's just a colleague. There's no way she'll ever feel like that, you sentimental fool.

The scene shifted and she watched him standing over her that morning.

Heh. Maybe if I say something clever, she'll—nope, that just made it worse.

And finally, she watched him flinch at the bitter look on her face when he'd helped her up only moments ago.

Good job, Severus. Somehow you've managed to made her hate you even more than usual, you utter git.

And still, she could feel his stubborn need to know for sure.

She drew back from him, blinking the tears that suddenly pricked at her eyes, and then reached out to cup his jaw in her hand. Gently she pulled his face closer to hers until she could feel the soft puffs of his breath against her lips. "Severus?"

"What?" His voice cracked slightly as his eyes searched hers.

"Well, you may be a bit of a git sometimes, but when it comes down to it, I wouldn't have you any other way," she finished, holding back a smirk as his eyebrows instinctively scrunched into a scowl. He pursed his lips as though he was about to speak, but before he could say anything, she quickly pulled him against her and pressed his lips against hers, her heart beating so rapidly against her ribs that she thought it might burst.

There was a moment of uncertainty as he stilled against her and she wondered if she'd somehow done everything all wrong, but then...then his arms wrapped tightly around her and his lips were matching hers kiss for kiss, their ragged breathing and frantic movement only increasing in intensity as the past year's worth of wanting one another burst from where they had so carefully concealed it in their hearts.

"Hermione," he moaned softly, his fingers caught in her tangles of auburn hair. His body practically shuddered with need, and she shuddered with him, lost to sensation beyond reason.

They paid no mind to the damp grass beneath them as they both finally let go of their tightly-held control.

* * *

It was after dark when Hermione awoke, wrapped tightly in Severus' cloak with the warmth of his body spooning against her back in a new yet comforting manner. She felt her lips pulling up into a sated smile as he nuzzled her neck and pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder.

"Severus?" she asked.

"Hmmn?" he grunted back, the heat of his breath on her neck.

"Didn't Hagrid say that he was going to return before supper?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno," he replied, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer, "Don' care."

She turned in his arms and gave him a soft peck on the lips. "I hope Hagrid isn't too angry at us. We've utterly buggered this whole unicorn hair retrieval business."

"Don't. Care," he replied, kissing her between each word.

They'd finally forced themselves to make themselves halfway decent by the time they heard Hagrid's heavy footfalls. By the time he undid the ward, Hermione was quite sure that it was past midnight.

"So," Hagrid boomed, "Didja get what yeh needed?"

Hermione was glad for the darkness, as she was blushing scarlet. "In some ways, yes. Unfortunately, I must confess I'm pants at getting unicorns to give up their hair, though."

"'S'all right," Hagrid replied. "But yeh both look much more relaxed now. I toldja you'd enjoy it."

"Absolutely," Severus agreed. As Hagrid led the way, he slipped his hand in Hermione's and entwined their fingers.

"Yes," Hermione continued, "I'd say that I learned quite a lot about...things...today."

Severus seemed to hold back a smirk at her words and barely managed a grimace-like expression instead. "I would still prefer the warmth of my own bed, don't you agree, Hermione?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip to stop herself from squeaking at the mental image that rose in her mind. "Bed sounds good, but not before I have a midnight snack. I'm starving from all of the...activity."

"Care to join me for a jaunt to the kitchens, then?" Severus asked.

"Oh," Hagrid said, "I were jus' about ter invite yeh both for rock cakes an' tea."

"As substantial as your rock cakes are, Hagrid, I believe the house elves will have kept leftovers from dinner so that we may have a more inclusive meal," Severus said.

Hermione was glad that the half-giant didn't seem to have realized that things had changed between her and Severus. Part of her mind was still processing the enormity of her feelings for Severus and the fact that his own feelings for her seemed to run deep as well.

Hagrid insisted on walking them back up to the castle despite the fact that they both knew the way, and they parted at the front doors.

"By the way, 'ermione," Hagrid said, as Severus opened the door and she handed him the case with the hairs they had initially harvested, "I'm glad fer both of yeh, really. Jus' be careful not ter break the poor bloke's heart, yeah? 'E pretends ter be all tough, but it's mostly just an act."

"Hagrid…" Hermione trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Don' worry, I won' tell anyone," Hagrid said with a wink. "Now, then, off with yeh both!"

"What was that about?" Severus said as she joined him.

Hand in hand, they watched Hagrid's lantern move slowly back towards his hut.

"Oh, that," Hermione said, "just some good advice."

"I hope that it doesn't involve more bloody unicorns," Severus deadpanned.

"Oh no," Hermione replied with a giggle as he squeezed her hand. "But you have to admit that he has a knack for caring for all manner of misunderstood creatures."

Severus gave her an odd look as though realizing the deeper meaning to her words, then nodded in agreement. "That he does, Hermione. That he does."


End file.
